Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Interview With Cynthia McCallister, Ed.D.

Interested in learning what "Learning Cultures" and "Unison Reading" are about?
The following comments are based on a January 15th, 2013 interview with Cynthia McCallister, Ed.D.


How did you get involved with secondary school education?

A couple things happened simultaneously. While working at the Jacob Riis School as a consultant in 2007-2011, where I was a coach and helped the teachers implement practices that would come to be known collectively as Learning Cultures, we held presentations and school tours. Jacob Riis is a Pre-k through 8th grade school. 

But high school people started coming to the presentations and showed a lot of interest. 
They saw applications for high school classrooms. Julie (Principal Nariman) was one of them. She came to visit in the Spring of 2011. The following summer, when she was preparing to open your school, she joined a team of teachers and attended a Unison Reading conference in Indiana. Urban Assembly, a NYC school support network, also became interested. They support high schools and middle schools. There are currently eight Urban Assembly schools implementing Learning Cultures.

How would you explain and describe "Learning Cultures" to an unfamiliar audience?

It is a way of organizing the classroom so that students have a lot of autonomy and freedom to make choices to do things and engage in curriculum activities that align with learning standards. A big part of the Learning Cultures model is the assignment of student responsibility.  

One of the consistent research findings in research in the psychology of motivation is that the more autonomy one has in doing a particular task, the more one tends to be motivated in the activity. This lesson from psychology is applied to all facets of the Learning Cultures model. At every opportunity, students are provided as much autonomy as possible to reach learning goals. With so much autonomy, students have plenty of opportunity to develop a sense of responsibility for doing things that help them accomplish goals toward their own learning objectives. These factors—autonomy and responsibility—impact learning not only by helping students reach content learning objectives, but also in helping them develop dispositions that are vitally important to learning and academic development.

What is the significance of Cooperative Unison Reading?
[Cynthia is the originator of UR]

Cooperative Unison Reading creates a shared experience so that everyone can participate in reading the same text at the same time. The phenomenon of a shared experience is a venue for shared regulation where students can attend to what others in the group are attending to. This phenomenon, known as “joint attention,” is the engine of social understanding. 

In Cooperative Unison Reading we maximize the power of joint attention by holding students accountable to following into one another’s comments and actions to seek higher understanding. By attending to the smart things that others do when they read, students have opportunities to take and apply smart strategies to their independent reading. Through Cooperative Unison Reading, students have opportunities not only to read and access information about content presented in texts, they also have opportunities to learn to reason cooperatively with others, a skill that will serve them in all facets of social life inside and outside of school.

Another thing that makes it unique is that kids have a lot of choice and autonomy within the Cooperative Unison Reading program. Students have opportunities to select texts that they want to read, as opposed to reading texts assigned by teachers. They also have opportunities to sign up to be in groups of their choice, as opposed to being assigned reading groups based on reading ability or reading level. Students love this aspect of the program.  

Cooperative Unison Reading is an example of how principals of autonomy and student responsibility operate within the Learning Cultures model. I’d say that applications of these principles to educational practice are few and far between, and that’s another factor that makes Cooperative Unison Reading unique.

Would Learning Cultures formats be applicable in schools with extreme attendance and behavior issues? Why or why not?

Yes. When kids like the way they feel in school and enjoy the activities school has to offer, they're more inclined to want to be in school and attend more consistently. When kids feel good about themselves and feel pride when others recognize their competence, that promotes positive behavior. Learning Cultures practices are designed to nurture every students sense of self-competence and to help students develop a sense of connectedness and relatedness to their classmates. The rules of the formats forbid treatment that is not promotive. So the practices help promote a positive classroom climate. All these factors help boost attendance and reduce discipline problems.

What are 3 things that sets our school apart from other high schools in New York City?

One thing is Julie's leadership is so strong. She has such a clear vision for what she wants the school to become. Learning Cultures is a pretty revolutionary, out of the box model. And by embracing it in such a dedicated and unshakable way, I think she’s demonstrated that she possesses a deep understanding of how people learn and a strong sense of courage and confidence to implement a program that diverges from the status quo. She has also demonstrated impressive talent in hiring and developing a talented cadre of faculty to implement the Learning Cultures program. Across the board, my sense is that the faculty is strong, open-minded and committed.

The kids make the place so special. They're from all over the globe. Really incredible, wonderful things happen with people from a breadth of different cultures and walks of life come together and have opportunities to share ideas. This makes your school a really fun place to spend time. The kids are becoming a product of the curriculum and a place that is rigorous academically. They set the bar high and have developed their own sense of ambition and commitment. That’s really rewarding to see. 

What is 1 major thing that sets our school apart from other high schools nationwide?

It's a place where kids experience a level of autonomy and independence that doesn't really happen anywhere else that I know of. There are free schools where students themselves decide what they want to learn and have freedom to do as they wish. But Learning Cultures does not permit that kind of freedom. Learning Cultures establishes explicit, high standards for students that are not negotiable. But it provides time, space, resources, support, autonomy and responsibility so that students can make their own progress toward meeting expectations. This combination of autonomy combined with high standards is rare.

Also, one thing about your school that unique and sets it apart is coherence. There is coherence across all classrooms in relation to the autonomy piece that I just spoke about. You might find individual teachers who successfully establish high standards and afford students autonomy as a means to reach them, but these cases are isolated. Rarely, if ever, has the combination been brought to scale school wide. If it can be sustained for any length of time here at HSLI, it will be quite an accomplishment!

What predictions would you make for where our students will be in five years? Ten?

On the one hand, we're looking into a future that is now more unpredictable and uncertain than it's been for any generation before. What HSLI students are learning now about how to be independent, purposeful and resourceful, how to make decisions, how to move successfully into new contexts, how to learn without being spoon fed information, these are abilities that will serve your students well in a future that is uncertain.

Many people don’t have opportunities to learn these lessons until well after leaving high school or even after college. For many of us, these were life lessons that we didn’t have a chance to learn in school.

A lot of kids mistake being spoon-fed information for good teaching. But while a lock-step curriculum might seem comforting, students at your school are being forced to be independent in ways that will serve them well, and they're making a lot of decisions for how to meet their learning objectives. I think that they're learning the kind of independence necessary for college, technical, or professional school. They are learning how important it is to learn from others and to know how to cooperate. These are abilities that are increasingly valued in the job market. Yet students are deprived of opportunities to learn them in the typical American high school. Your school is unique. So, I suspect that that will give an edge that many freshmen do not have when they go to college.  




Thursday, January 24, 2013

"Dramatically Transforming..."

In the current issue of the UFT (United Federation of Teachers) newspaper, there is an article about "Literacy in the social studies classroom" (p. 8, by Patrick Sprinkle). Five teaching-learning strategies are outlined. The author's intentions are good. Methods he recommends  would indeed be dramatic in places where teacher-centered "chalk & talk" still dominates. However, I have to say that HSLI is light years ahead of such strategies. Here are two:

  • "Think, pair, share"---"This approach creates a more collaborative classroom, allows more voices to be heard and exposes students to different perspectives while also encouraging a more student-centered classroom."
>>Good, in a very rudimentary sense, but still a practice controlled largely by the "sage on a stage." Our school HSLI smashes boundaries in our 70 minute class periods, taking the teacher completely from center stage, except during the 10-20 minute mini-lesson. 
~Students control Unison Reading groups.

~Students control their independent work time. 

~Students control the share time at conclusion of each period. 

~Students even largely control our school's "Ladder of Consequences," signaling for others to be more promotive as they aid in stabilizing the classroom atmosphere. 

  • "One-sentence interviews"---"This technique can get students to verbalize their beliefs after reading a text...Students would take seven to eight minutes asking each other this question and writing down their responses. Again, this technique creates a more collaborative and democratic classroom...It also acknowledges that history is not handed down from on high but is subject to multiple and competing interpretations."
>>Great intentions but unless this strategy is employed several times weekly, students will remain mostly in their own worlds. Even if this strategy is employed well, students will spend the majority of time writing rather than working cooperatively with others, as they will need to do in the "real" world. 

Perhaps in our school we do need to emphasize more about student perspectives and interpretations of various texts. But we are doing well employing a structure which leaves no option but do interact cooperatively, communicating, with a small group of peers for at least fifteen minutes per period, per core class, per day*.

*with Friday as an exceptional day when students spend two full hours of the afternoon in "enrichment" elective classes of their choosing (i.e yoga, Taekwando, dance, music, etc.)


Monday, January 21, 2013

Ladder of Consequences

What follows is the updated and revised Ladder of Consequences for the High School of Language & Innovation. A major strength of our school's Ladder is that it is a living, breathing policy. This is already the third version of it so far this school year.

The entire teaching staff, administration (which is primarily the principal since we have chosen not to have an assistant principal), & even support staff--including school aides and hallway support team--play a role in creating school policies. I'm not sure how often this occurs in other schools but know for a fact it did not occur in my previous two schools.

Ladder of Consequences

First and foremost:
Students show respect for social norms through reciprocal interactions with peers; and when norms are violated, students actively enforce them.*


1. Teacher warning (verbal or visual).
2. 5-10 minute silence in retreat spot.†
3. 5-10 minute behavior reflection in retreat spot.
4. Behavior conference with phone call home. ‡
5. Silent lunch with phone call home.
6. After school reflection with phone call home. Review behavior conference and write response.
_____________________________________________
 
[1] From “Learning Cultures Classroom Social Norms Rubric,” Cynthia McCallister. 

[1] Not in Unison Reading.  In Unison Reading, “Students demonstrate promotive behaviors toward their peers and manage the group by attending to social process concerns.”  Cooperative Unison Reading Rubric, McCallister. 

[1] Student and teacher, or student and support staff, must have a behavior conference at this point.  Students write their part of the behavior conference before they meet with the teacher during class or lunch in B37. 

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

How to Have the Perfect Life

According to B., one of our 9th grade male students...


1. Be always in a good mood (Happy) and enjoy life to the fullest like it's your last day on earth

2. Never lend money no matter who it is, because they will become your first enemies when they dont want to pay you

3. Try not to owe people favors, because they will annoy you reminding you that favor

4. Try to never fall in love alot cause your heart might get broken.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Friday...But We Don't Have Any More Dreams...

With great thanks, it is Friday. Compared to my old school, it's been all calm on the western front--mostly. 
But for our up and coming school, there have been some rough times this week. 10D has paper ball issues and 9D two afternoons ago was a living nightmare. I even had to "break formats" in that 9D class, not able to sit with either Unison Reading group (sorry to Principal Nariman and C., originator of Unison Reading, who may be reading this). 

Meanwhile, a nice freshman girl, C., from 9D was with Mr. R. today in his class, talking about dreams. While writing down her dreams, she told Mr. R.: "Mister, you're a teacher. You don't have dreams anymore."

Knowing this was said in a purely naive way made it funny. And, I'm pretty sure she meant that becoming a teacher was achieving one of his goals. Although I'm not sure that this was meant as his sole goal in life. 

Friday, January 4, 2013

No More Sage on the Stage

That's the opposite of our school's philosophy. 
Never heard that term before today but now it's stuck in my mind:

"Sage on the Stage."

Whereas in the vast majority of schools, students are in audience to the teachers--learning primarily from them--in our school teachers are in audience to the students, learning more from them. 

No more Sage on the Stage.

We now have "AA Sponsors," as well. Adults in the school--from the Parent Coordinator to the School Aides and Supplies Secretary--are acting as point people for specific students who have had interventions. This method will help ensure students are followed up with and their progress is monitored accordingly.


Thursday, January 3, 2013

A New Year

Recommitted. At least a couple of posts per week are promised for the new year. Ever since just before Hurricane Sandy, I've been totally off track with this blog. But I'm rededicating myself to the task.

I feel it is important to archive the innovations our school is making:

~placing a ninth grade student, O., in a tenth grade class (10A) in an effort to influence him positively and form him into a "productive citizen"

[So far, his behavior is vastly improved, as 10A does not entertain much craziness---although someone in there passed serious, disturbing gas today which overpowered the room for about ten minutes. Smelled so bad it was like a stink bomb, but I think it was actually gas.]

~switching another ninth grader, A., from 9C to 9D

[Not quite as innovative, but hopefully will help 9C refocus and not disrupt the structure in 9D.]

~another updated and revised Ladder of Consequences, which I will outline in detail perhaps next week

_____________________________________________________________________________

L. shared at the conclusion of 10A's class today. She struggled to speak English and it was very endearing; especially when she told everyone how a "strength" of hers was receiving an "E" (exceeds expectations) in the Scientific Revolution multiple choice segment of her test, on December 20th.

L. then stated that her "challenge" was writing a thematic essay in English. Her "revolution" for that would be... She began laughing, as did others, at her substitution of a major turning point which leads to lasting change for a resolution.